Something happens. Is it good or is it bad? – Often, we believe we know. As often, we are wrong. Here’s a story about not jumping to conclusions.
Attic: Posterous?
Another one from the attic – with a twist. Originally, in summer 2010, it was about “I should have exerted more pressure on that team”. But it turned into a piece on high-tech hybris. Continue reading Attic: Posterous?
Quote of the day: Software Development is …
One of my favorite aphorisms about software development:
Continue reading Quote of the day: Software Development is …
I am a systems engineer…
Back in 1997, when I first met Tim Berners-Lee, (now Sir Tim Berners-Lee)…
Bibles of Software Engineering I
Some books about software engineering are timeless classics. Among them, written as early as 1975 and still unbelievably relevant, is “The Mythical Man-Month” by Fred Brooks.
Learning to love the rain
From the attic: I’ve written this years ago but didn’t publish it for one reason or another. It’s not recent, but worth a thought or two anyways… Whatever, here comes:
The other day, I had a very interesting discussion with a friend-colleague-mentor about unpopular truths in large corporate environments.
The truth about the truth, and why it matters for software development
Ever wondered why there is so much friction between software developers and product managers? I wouldn’t claim to have found the philosopher’s stone, though I’d offer the following partial solution, partly rooted in philosophy. In a nutshell: they are using different types of truth, and once these two are distinguished consciously, everything becomes a lot easier.
Continue reading The truth about the truth, and why it matters for software development
New aphorism: Why “Oral Tradition”
Nothing to add: “We learn by example and by direct experience because there are real limits to the adequacy of verbal instruction.” – Malcolm Gladwell
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The Universal Yardstick: Creating a Vision – Software Development by Oral Tradition
One of my favorite terms about software projects is the notion of “progressive elaboration”: software development, as a knowledge-acquiring activity, requires an approach where we over and over again refine what we do: what we do in development, how the UI looks, which languages and locales to support, how to handle roll-out and documentation and testing and a hundred other things. In order not to end up in an infinite loop, the first thing we need in any software project is a vision that guides everything else we do. Of course, that vision should not just be in one head, it should be shared across the entire project team so that it can guide and coordinate all the activities of the entire team.
Continue reading The Universal Yardstick: Creating a Vision – Software Development by Oral Tradition
Software Development by Oral Tradition
One of my favorite quotes about software development is that “software development is not a product-producing activity, it is a knowledge-acquiring activity” (Phillip G. Armour, “The Five Orders of Ignorance”, CACM 10/2000).
One of the consequences is that there are fundamentally two types of “bugs” or defects: (1) “we” know how it should work, but have messed up reflecting that knowledge in the software, and (2) the software accurately reflects our knowledge, but our knowledge is in some way “defect”. Plus, there is another one: Practically all relevant software is developed in teams, and there is a chance for misunderstandings between the individuals comprising the teams.
A lot has been thought and written and invented around getting rid of these misunderstandings. So far, none of it works reliably: at the very least, the task at hand and the people on the team should determine the choice of method (and, especially in large corporations, doesn’t).
Continue reading Software Development by Oral Tradition